Martin Palmer, Author
About Me
Martin Palmer is originally from Chicago, and has settled in Colorado. Having grown up in the north Chicago suburbs, he enlisted in the US Army in 1979, taking a job as a military policeman. Following training, he was stationed at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) Texas, where he worked as a patrolman. In October of 1980, his unit was deployed to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, to support the Cuban Refugee Relocation Program. Early in 1981, having returned from this deployment, Martin was assigned to the Office of the Provost Marshal, where he worked as a liaison officer with the local civilian police. In June of that year, he changed stations to northern Germany in the city of Bremerhaven. This was a port city that supported shipments of ammunition and equipment into Europe. Martin provided security, and eventually worked as a Military Police Desk Sergeant.
In 1982, Martin was discharged, and upon returning to Chicago, worked as a security supervisor for various factories, financial institutions, hospitals, and apartment complexes. In 1985, he switched careers and took on managing a movie theater in the north Chicago suburbs. Around that time, he had the pleasure of meeting the great horror writer Stephen King while on a publicity tour. The introduction inspired Martin to begin his writing. Using a portable typewriter and a large supply of correction tape, he began crafting stories ranging from mysteries to the fantastic.
In 1987, Martin returned to the military service when his wife at the time was pregnant with his first son. Along with his wife's older son, he relocated to Colorado Springs, where he was assigned to the nearby Fort Carson. Within a few months, he was deployed to Honduras, into a field area resembling the set of the movie "M*A*S*H." The hijinks of the unit also resembled those of the characters in that story.
Following this deployment, Martin again worked at the Military Police Desk, then deployed to Panama. This was during the indictment of Panamanian strong-man Manuel Noriega. The deployment there was dangerous and stressful. He found himself on jungle patrols and operations that were disquieting at best.
Upon his return to Colorado, Martin was again assigned the job as a liaison officer, and became a member of the Special Reaction Team, which handled difficult police operations with the delicate skill required.
In 1990, Martin found himself in Frankfurt, Germany. In the Middle East at that time, Iraq had invaded the neighboring country of Kuwait. This meant a wartime posture for the military. In early 1991, within weeks of his wife and four young children arriving in Frankfurt, Martin was deployed to Turkey, and then into Iraq from the north. Martin participated in the operation to rescue Kurdish people who evacuated the cities in northern Iraq when they were threated yet again by the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein.
For the remainder of Martin's military work, he was assigned to his Battalion, where he wrote training exercises and operations. He compared his work to being a play write, in which his stage was a 800 square kilometer training area and his actors were 1000 soldiers playing the parts. This was during the time that the nation of Yugoslavia had split into violent factions, and military police were being deployed as peacekeepers. Martin wrote the first exercises that did not use the "Russians crossing the Fulda Gap" scenario.
In 1999, Martin was discharged from the US Army with a disability due to a back injury and cancer diagnosis. He recovered enough to study database management, and he took a job in the civilian sector during the Dot-Com era. After this situation crashed, he moved into computer technical support, where he worked for a Real Estate company, then formed his own company that supported small and medium sized businesses. In 2018, Martin began working for a company called Colorado Computer Support, where he became a systems administrator.
In 2023, Martin published his first book, "Heads I Win," introducing the world to his character Lance Becker, an ex-cop and cyber security expert who is tasked with finding the source of a dangerous computer virus.
Martin Palmer is married to his third wife, Michele, and has four grown children and six grandchildren. In his spare time, he is a motorcycle and firearms enthusiast, and also enjoys traveling and photography.
In 1982, Martin was discharged, and upon returning to Chicago, worked as a security supervisor for various factories, financial institutions, hospitals, and apartment complexes. In 1985, he switched careers and took on managing a movie theater in the north Chicago suburbs. Around that time, he had the pleasure of meeting the great horror writer Stephen King while on a publicity tour. The introduction inspired Martin to begin his writing. Using a portable typewriter and a large supply of correction tape, he began crafting stories ranging from mysteries to the fantastic.
In 1987, Martin returned to the military service when his wife at the time was pregnant with his first son. Along with his wife's older son, he relocated to Colorado Springs, where he was assigned to the nearby Fort Carson. Within a few months, he was deployed to Honduras, into a field area resembling the set of the movie "M*A*S*H." The hijinks of the unit also resembled those of the characters in that story.
Following this deployment, Martin again worked at the Military Police Desk, then deployed to Panama. This was during the indictment of Panamanian strong-man Manuel Noriega. The deployment there was dangerous and stressful. He found himself on jungle patrols and operations that were disquieting at best.
Upon his return to Colorado, Martin was again assigned the job as a liaison officer, and became a member of the Special Reaction Team, which handled difficult police operations with the delicate skill required.
In 1990, Martin found himself in Frankfurt, Germany. In the Middle East at that time, Iraq had invaded the neighboring country of Kuwait. This meant a wartime posture for the military. In early 1991, within weeks of his wife and four young children arriving in Frankfurt, Martin was deployed to Turkey, and then into Iraq from the north. Martin participated in the operation to rescue Kurdish people who evacuated the cities in northern Iraq when they were threated yet again by the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein.
For the remainder of Martin's military work, he was assigned to his Battalion, where he wrote training exercises and operations. He compared his work to being a play write, in which his stage was a 800 square kilometer training area and his actors were 1000 soldiers playing the parts. This was during the time that the nation of Yugoslavia had split into violent factions, and military police were being deployed as peacekeepers. Martin wrote the first exercises that did not use the "Russians crossing the Fulda Gap" scenario.
In 1999, Martin was discharged from the US Army with a disability due to a back injury and cancer diagnosis. He recovered enough to study database management, and he took a job in the civilian sector during the Dot-Com era. After this situation crashed, he moved into computer technical support, where he worked for a Real Estate company, then formed his own company that supported small and medium sized businesses. In 2018, Martin began working for a company called Colorado Computer Support, where he became a systems administrator.
In 2023, Martin published his first book, "Heads I Win," introducing the world to his character Lance Becker, an ex-cop and cyber security expert who is tasked with finding the source of a dangerous computer virus.
Martin Palmer is married to his third wife, Michele, and has four grown children and six grandchildren. In his spare time, he is a motorcycle and firearms enthusiast, and also enjoys traveling and photography.
